The woman of my dreams… We met at Emory University…lived in the same freshman dorm (Longstreet!). I’d see her race out of the building each day to track practice, and though we had a class together and both sang in the gospel choir, we barely noticed each other first semester. Well, that’s not…
Author: Samuel Wakefield
Every Father Has a Story
Recently I met with the Executive Director for a prominent private school in the Atlanta area to pick his brain about some of the work he’s been doing with young families from low income communities. Given that we’re in the same line of work, and that he has years of experience in this field, I…
Inspired by the love of a good woman
Sometimes I look at my wife and I can still remember back when she was simply my wife, and before she became the mother of my children. It’s a trip how time flies. One day you’re holding hands in Lullwater Park, dreaming about your future, the next you’re holding a little one’s hands dreaming about hers….
What’s your definition of success?
Have you ever thought about how you define success in life? Particularly for parents I believe this is an important question to consider. I read a definition this morning during my quiet time that was really inspiring. It’s by John Maxwell, and it’s one he decided on earlier on in his marriage, parenting, and career….
Discerning Your Worth
I read a quote this morning by Mike Murdoch which I love. He says, those who do not discern your worth, are disqualified for relationship. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the question, how do we communicate our worth to others? First it starts with a correct understanding of our own worth right? This is…
What are you duty bound to do?
For the past few days, I’ve been in Albany, Georgia leading a community leadership journey with a number of my colleagues from Atlanta. Along with us have been a group of students, community members, staff members, and several teachers from Atlanta. We came to Albany, Georgia to explore the legacy of the Civil Rights movement…
Light a new torch
The people in this picture are why I do what I do. The first time I walked into the room several weeks ago to start working with this group of dads, what I noticed was how truly young they look. Too young for anyone to give up on them yet. There’s still so much life…
The Power of Being a Dad Who Reads to His Kids
A few weeks ago I signed up to start working with a mentoring group called Teen Dads. Its a program run by the county that I live in, and it supports young fathers 18 and under to develop the skills necessary to become better dads. Over the course of 4 workshops this month and next, I…
Reflecting on four years of parenting…
There was a moment yesterday either before or after my oldest daughter’s birthday party, where it hit my wife and I that we’ve been parents for now four years and counting. Four years doesn’t sound like a long time when you put it in perspective of the span of a lifetime. But, when we consider…
How to READ with Your Children
Fathers, I stumbled across this great resource earlier this morning as I was doing my own research for a workshop I’m presenting at next week. The topic of my upcoming workshop is Becoming an Educational Advocate for your child, and it’s for a group of young teen fathers in my community. In an effort to…